Thursday, July 30, 1998 Published at 13:05 GMT 14:05 UKWorld: AmericasOJ Simpson mansion bulldozed"Too expensive to renovate"Bulldozers have demolished the Los Angeles mansion where the former sport star OJ Simpson lived when his former wife and her friend were killed.

The mansion became a tourist attraction after traces of blood found there featured at OJ Simpson's trial and subsequent acquittal for murder.

It was sold to a banker for nearly $4m after a civil hearing found the actor liable to pay $33.5m in damages to the victims' families.

The new owner said building a new home was cheaper than renovations.

OJ looking forward

OJ Simpson: "I'm a sentimental guy"

"It's part of my past," Simpson was quoted as saying, referring to the house he lived for 20 years.

"I am a sentimental guy... but there's things
you've got to compartmentalise. You take them and file them away. I've always tried to live my life forward and not backward," he said.

A notorious tourist attraction

Neighbours relieved to see the house demolished

Correspondents say O.J's house had become one of the most notorious tourist attractions of Los Angeles.

In a few hours the bulldozers flattened the entrance hall where police found drops of blood from O.J Simpson's murdered ex-wife, Nicole Brown; the main bedroom where a pair of Simpson's socks
allegedly containing Nicole Brown's blood were
found; and the guest cottage where actor Kato Kaelin heard a loud thud on the night Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman were murdered.

Neighbours on North Rockingham Avenue in the prosperous Brentwood area said they were glad to see it demolished as it meant the end to hordes of curiosity seekers.